U.S. equities surge, June 16-20

The U.S. Federal Reserve’s latest suggestion that it would keep interest rates low seemed to outweigh concerns about the renewed turmoil in Iraq, sending the Dow Jones Industrial Average and the S&P 500 Index to record highs. The benchmark S&P 500 posted five straight daily gains and closed at record highs three days in a row. For the week, the Dow was up 1.02% to 16,947.08 and the S&P 500 Index rose 1.38% to 1,962.87. According to Reuters, 330 companies on the New York Stock Exchange hit 52-week highs on June 20. The New York spot price of gold climbed 3% to finish at US$1,414.70 per oz.

Shares of Barrick Gold and Newmont Mining were up in the wake of comments to the Globe and Mail by the president of China National Gold Group Corp., China’s largest gold producer. President Xin Song reportedly told Canada’s national newspaper that China National Gold had had “very good conversations” with both companies on how to “co-operate in the future,” and said the talks included everything from co-operation on projects and joint ventures to how to cut costs. Barrick was the most actively traded stock, climbing 83¢ to US$17.82, while Newmont shares advanced US$1.46 to close at US$24.86.

Freeport-McMoRan Copper & Gold rose 89¢ to US$34.86 per share. The company reported on June 20 that its oil and gas subsidiary had completed the previously announced sale of its Eagle Ford Shale assets to a subsidiary of Encana for US$3.1 billion in cash. The company expects to acquire interests in the Deepwater Gulf of Mexico from Apache on June 30.

On June 16 Agnico Eagle Mines and Yamana Gold acquired Osisko Mining and its Canadian Malartic gold mine in Quebec, sending Agnico Eagle shares up US$4.01 to US$37.30. Agnico and Yamana each own 50% of Osisko and will jointly operate Canadian Malartic and explore and potentially develop the Kirkland Lake assets, and continue exploration at the Hammond Reef, Pandora and Wood–Pandora properties.

A US$70-million financing from Banco de Credito del Peru sent the shares of Rio Alto Mining up 15% to US$2.30 apiece. Rio Alto Mining is advancing its La Arena project, 480 km northwest of Lima.

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